Hiding The Truth
by LooneyLovey
Summary: 'The smirk that stretched cruelly across his face would forever be embedded in her mind from this moment on; it was the epitome of pure evil.' Can Severus save Hermione from a fate she deems to be worse than death? And what's it got to do with Mrs. Snape? In the process of updating/revising 07/07/12.
1. Touché

**Declaimer: According to the little elves that live on my shoulder J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter and will do for quite some time, but I'm going to borrow her characters for a bit and see what happens :)

* * *

**

**Chapter 1: Touché  
**

As the sun rose on the horizon the sky was filled with majestic oranges and reds which seemed to dance around each other as though they were alive. A lone girl stood on a hill, looking content at starting out into space. If someone were to take a closer look at that girl then they would see faint scars marring her arms, some of which were just about healed but some that seemed as though they had been made only yesterday. They would also see what she clutched tightly in her hand, it was a piece of high quality parchment which no student could afford and which bared the Malfoy crest upon it.

The girls name was Hermione Granger; Gryffindor bookworm and one third of the golden trio.

It was a well known fact that Hermione was the glue that kept the other two together and the brains behind everything, but what was not well known was that she needed her own glue, someone that could help her when she got stuck. Over time she had found that relying on the boys to glue her back together when she got hurt was not a clever option and as she didn't have that many friends she had to find a new way. A way that didn't rely on anybody except herself.

One night many months ago she had accidentally cut herself on her knife in the Great Hall and as she saw the blood well up from the cut she felt a sick sense of satisfaction wash over her, no-one noticed the smile that spread across her face. No-one that was apart from the potions master who now stood behind her on the hill.

"Out a bit early aren't we Miss Granger?"

She was not a girl who jumped easily but this time she was thankful, she used the recovery time to wordlessly cast the glamour she usually wore upon her arms, masking the scars from sight.

"I've been out earlier," she said, while turning around to face him.

"You do realise Miss Granger it is a Sunday, normally the day of rest and yet you seem not to be resting."

If anyone knew the potions master then they would know that he suffered from insomnia. Most nights he stayed in his chamber, marking all the homework he had set but last night he found that he had marked everything. At the time he made a mental note to assign more but as Poppy had promised that he got at least one nights sleep per week he took some to the Dreamless Sleep potion he had made the day previously and slipped into a deep slumber, only to be awoken by the headmaster in the early hours of the morning asking his preference on which colour socks he should wear that day. Needless to say he had not been amused and after spending some time tossing and turning he gave up trying to sleep, got dressed and decided to take an early morning stroll through the grounds only to find Miss Granger already up and out.

"I could say the same to you Sir, as you don't seem to be resting either."

"Touché Miss Granger."

They both slipped into a comfortable silence while Severus pondered the conundrum that was the young woman who stood next to him, Hermione thought back to last nights careless mistake.

Every night before she went to sleep Hermione took the glamour off her arms, letting her magic core strengthen again ready for the next day. Last night she had forgotten and woke up at 3am to discover her arms still flawless. Knowing that she wouldn't get back to sleep as her body seemed to hate her, she got up, took the glamour off and decided to see if walking around the ground could help her get mentally prepared for the day ahead. She knew that only having a few hours without the glamour on would barley make a dent in the magical and physical exhaustion she would surely feel, but she had to try something or else she would pass out like she did the last time she left the glamour on too long.

When she had first started to wear the glamour she found that she became tired quickly and the power her spells seemed to diminish, it was only when she practised what she had learned during the day at night time did she realise the effect the glamour had on her. It drained her, magically and physically. Logically she should have known this but for the past few months she hadn't been thinking logically.

"Miss Granger, are you okay. You look a little... peaky."

She looked at her potions professor in amazement; he had never asked her if she felt 'okay' before.

"Yes, I asked if you're okay. Don't look so amazed, I am human you know." he smiled slightly as he remembered all the whispered comments about his true nature; that he was actually a vampire. The thought was ridiculous though as vampires couldn't go out in the sunlight.

"I'm fine professor, just a little tired is all,"

Though some would call him cruel and callous he really did care for his students and this particular student he cared a great deal for. Before the war, he had been forbidden to show anything that resembled care towards his students but now that the Dark Lord had finally been defeated he had decided to start changing a few things for example, before he had seen Miss Granger he had been debating changing his teaching methods.

"Are you sure Miss Granger?" as he said this he saw her eyes flutter briefly and she looked as though she were about to faint before she managed to pull herself back together.

"Yes professor," she acted as though nothing had happened, " if you don't mind I'm going to go for a light jog, see you later Sir."

She was gone before he had the chance to question her about what just happened and instead of the 'light jog' she said she was going to do, he saw her sprinting back towards the castle. It didn't take her long to reach the main entrance and when she disappeared from his sight he thought back to how she had acted around him.

He had noticed the glamour she wore, after being a spy for so long it was sometimes necessary to wear one himself and he knew how much it took out of a person but what confused him was where the glamour was mainly located. Her arms and her chest. Though he had a few theories about why she would glamour her arms – he hoped that every single on of them was wrong – he couldn't think why a person would glamour their chest.

"What are you hiding Hermione?" he murmured to himself, looking out to the morning sky.

After the war had ended he had started to watch her, fighting the protectiveness that he felt for her and trying to brush it off as nothing, but as time went on he became increasingly more worried about her as she withdrew from everyone around her. No one seemed to noticed and it angered him that such a bright young witch was being ignored when she was in dire need of help. When he saw her she was usually by herself in the library or reading a book in the Great Hall, barely anyone made an attempt to get close to her, not even the other Weasley, Ginny.

All the seventh years had been made to return to complete their schooling and take their NEWTs if they had not already done so with the exception of the Golden Trio. By the time that the letters had reached everybody Potter and Weasley had already accepted jobs at the Ministry and Hermione had been about to, but upon receiving her letter declined the post she had been offered and returned to school. Before she had returned to the school she spent the summer with her parents and that seemed to be when everything changed, he couldn't put a finger on how she had it was just his gut instinct, and it told him something wasn't right.

* * *

By the time she had reached her rooms she was exhausted, the peace she had managed to find under the morning sky had evaporated as soon as she had heard her potions professor behind her. For the first time she found herself grateful for the fact that it was a Sunday and that some people slept until 11am. Deciding that it would be wise to grab a few hours of sleep while she it was possible to do so she went back to bed, this time remembering to take the glamours off her arms.

As soon as her head hit the pillow the dream started. It was always the same one and it always had the same outcome, because that outcome was her reality.

_~Dream~ _

_She was standing on the outskirts of the forbidden forest, relishing in the peace and quiet that it provided when a voice startled her._

"_Miss Granger, I wasn't expecting to see you out here this early on a Sunday morning," _

_Hermione looked back to see Lucius Malfoy appearing from the depths of the forbidden forest. _

"_Nor was I expecting to see you Mr Malfoy," even though he had swapped sides at the last minute of the war she still didn't trust him. She had tried to tell her suspicions to Dumbledore many months before but he only seemed to see the goodness in people. _

"_I should be going, Harry will be wondering where I've gotten to," they had all been gathered at the castle for one last Order meeting to clear up any loose ties and as it had gone on so late Dumbledore has suggest that she stay the night in the guest quarters. She had readily agreed because otherwise it would have meant apparating to her parents house when tired, and as she had learned from previous experiences it was not a clever thing to do. After a sleepless night she decided that an early morning walk around the grounds would clear her head, it was only now that she cursed herself for her foolishness of not letting anyone know where she was going._

"_I know for a fact no-one is waiting for you Miss Granger, or should I call you Hermione now? After all, we're about to become better acquainted."_

"_Miss Granger is fine Mr Malfoy, but I really should be going. It was nice talking to you." _

_One of the first rules of survival was never turn your back on your enemy, but she did and the next thing _

_When she awoke a short time later she saw nothing but she felt everything._

"_The muggles," he said the word as though it left a foul taste in his mouth, and for him it probably did," came up with thing called a 'blindfold', I thought it fitting for you mudblood." _

_She could hear him circling her as she lay on the forest floor, the crackle from the leaves letting her know where he was. _

"_I'm going to make you scream so loud that you may just break my eardrums," he stopped moving and she could faintly make out the swish of his wand as he removed her blindfold. He must've decided he wanted the full picture, get the full effect, "you will pass out from pain and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."_

_She knew that he had already cast spells to prevent any of the spells he used from being traced, she had be the one to develop the spell. She also knew that he would have taken many precautions against being heard so she could break his ear drums as no one would be able to hear her scream. _

"_Take your last pain free breath mudblood. It's time for the fun to begin."_

_A piercing scream filled the air and she barely recognised it as her own. It almost sounded inhuman. Time seemed to crawl by until everything blurred into nothingness. _

_When she awoke again she came face to face with the monster that had caused her the pain that now pulsed throughout her body. _

"_Well, well, well Hermione," he drew out each syllable of her name and she shivered in disgust, only to wince when the action caused her pain,"you lasted longer than I thought you would, for a mudblood you surprised me."_

_Though talking would cause her pain she could not give in to him._

"_I-I'm gla..glad," she managed to stutter._

"_No matter, no matter you wont surprise me next time. Being the inquisitive mudblood you are I'm going to tell you what hexes I used, you should thank me. I wouldn't normally do this but as we will see a lot of each other I think I can make an exception," he almost seemed to be taking to himself but she kept quiet knowing and unstable Lucius Malfoy would do a lot more damage than a stable one. _

"_Let's see then. I used Crucio, stinging hexes and Sectumsempra- but don't worry I healed you afterwards, can't have mudblood blood on me. Now that may seem like not many but I guarantee that this next one will make them all seem like nothing. It's from a French friend on mine, he was kind enough to teach it to me before he died. Not a very inventive curse mind you but it does the job, does it perfectly in fact. Let me explain."_

_The smirk that stretched cruelly across his face would forever be embedded in her mind from this moment on. It was the epitome of pure evil._

_"Each time you see me – even for a second you will relive this moment. What's to happen is you will feel pain, pain which is worse than you are feeling now and being the kind person I am, I will give you a scar to remember me, not that you need it though. The scar will burn your flesh each time it is touched, no one will want you and no one will care for you," this was all said in whispered breaths. Very un-Malfoy like, but she knew he wasn't Malfoy. He was the monster within him. _

"_La douleur constante."_

_~End Dream~_

Her scream reverberated around the castle, reaching every corner and every room. The students who remained over Christmas break awoke from their slumber and the teachers stopped what they were doing. Barely a minute passed before the voice of the Headmaster sounded throughout the castle.

"Students will report their common rooms. Teachers to the Great Hall."


	2. Her Reality

**Disclaimer: According to the voices inside my head J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter. Did anyone else know that? :)

* * *

**

**Chapter 2: Reality**

**Hermione Granger's Room.**

She sat up in the bed, drenched in sweat breathing heavily. It was just a dream she told herself, just a dream.

"But it's not just a dream," she mumbled, "it's my reality."

* * *

**Meanwhile, down in the Great Hall.**

"What the hell was that Albus?" the Scottish woman shrieked. They had just been talking about the effects of muggle sweets on children's teeth, and were going to ask Hermione her opinion on the subject when they heard the scream.

"For once in my life Minerva, I really do not know."

As soon as Albus had finished speaking all the lights in the Great Hall flickered, then went out. Leaving them all bathed in darkness.

"Albus?" a voice called.

"Over here Severus," he said, worry starting to cloud his voice.

"What do you think happened Albus?" Severus asked as he made his way over to them, their voices telling him roughly where they stood.

"As I said to Minerva before, I don't know."

"Perhaps a student or an attack?" she suggested while trying to find Severus, by holding her arms out in front of her and moving around. Had the lights been on it would have been a funny sight to see; the Transfiguration teacher aimlessly wandering about, her arms in front of her.

"Or perhaps it was meant as a joke," he snarled, "see how long it takes for the teachers to get out of their nice, warm comfortable beds on a Sunday morning when everybody should bloody be asleep."

Although they couldn't see him, they both knew how he would be stood; his arms folded across his chest and a scowl upon his face.

"Really Severus it is close to 10am, most people are awake by now!" she exclaimed. "Is that you Albus?" she said after she felt an arm that didn't belong to her.

"Yes dear," Albus replied, "and before you ask where Severus is, he's right next to me."

"Well some of us aren't _most people, _Minerva. Some of were spies, and some of us were woken up by the Headmaster in the early hours of the morning."

"Why were you woken up by the Headmaster, Severus?" she enquired, feeling around Albus to find Severus.

"Because he wanted to know what colour socks to wear!" he huffed, not pleased that he was having an inane conversation while waiting for the lights to come back on. He was tired and he was cold, all he wanted to do was go back to bed.

Dumbledore knew what was going to happen and it would not be pretty. The same thing had happened once before, and in the end it had gotten so bad that he had to disarm both of them which left them furious and wandless, not a good combination for two people who were proficient at hand to hand combat. After they had thrown a few good punches he had managed to separate them, making them sit in opposite corners of the Great Hall to think over their actions. Neither of them were pleased with being treated as children and when they had been allowed out – as Albus had warded the area they sat in against them leaving – they conspired between them and stole his Lemon Drops.

Severus started to stalk off, planning on going back to bed when the lights suddenly came back on. However, they only stayed on for a few moments before Great Hall was plunged into darkness once more.

The man in black was starting to loose his temper, "With all due respect Headmaster, I believe that it would be best to take this conversation up into your office."

"In case you have forgotten, there are no lights Severus," said Minerva, an exasperated look upon her face. Not that they could see it though.

"Really Minerva. I hadn't noticed," he drawled. "There's also something else you may have forgotten, you're a witch! And you can do magic!"

"Really Severus. I hadn't forgotten," but the embarrassment was clear in her voice.

Dumbledore pipped up, "Perhaps we should take this up to my office. Severus, Minerva, shall we?"

But Severus had to have the last word, or at least something close to it, "Now Minerva, pay attention. Répéter après moi. Lumos."

"Oh, honestly Severus grow up!" Severus just smirked, he enjoyed teasing her.

The lights flickered back on and all of the teachers had to cover their eyes from the intensity of the glare. As soon as the lights had gone back to normal the teachers started to file out, grumbling about marking essays and missing beauty sleep.

"Now that the lights are back on I suggest we move," Dumbledore suggested humorously.

* * *

**Hermione Granger's Room.**

"It was just a dream. Just a dream Hermione, get it together girl," she murmured to herself.

As she got out of bed and made her way to her bathroom she thought over Albus' decision to give her private quarters. He had given her a choice, and that was to either have her own room or stay with the remaining seventh years. Needless to say after the summer she had had, the privacy was greedily welcomed and she jumped at the chance to have her own quarters.

Nightmares weren't foreign to her; she regularly had them, but then again so did every single member of The Order. While she, Harry and Ron had been camping on the run, they had found out just how regular their own nightmares were when they had had to set up a system. If any of them thought that another was having a nightmare they had to wake the person who was having the nightmare up. The reason for doing so was that they had discovered the hard way Voldemort was accessing their minds during the nightmares. While the action of waking each other up all the time made them exhausted, but it saved them in the long run.

"Nightmares are worse now though," she muttered to herself.

One thing that Hermione never asked Albus was why he gave her the private quarters, as she thought doing so would be rude. However, if she had to guess why he had she would put it down to him knowing something was wrong and, unabsolved guilt. She knew the Headmaster carried a lot of it around with him; almost like a weight that could never be lifted, and if letting her have her private quarters helped somewhat to ease the guilt then she wouldn't complain.

As Hermione looked at herself in the mirror, she swore silently; it looked like today she would have to put on a full body glamour. That was something which she loathed to doing, it drained her power until it was non-existent which consequentially made her performances in class weaker.

She cast a non-verbal _Tempus _and was shocked to discover that it was 10am; she didn't normally sleep in that late, even if she had been out on the grounds.

Hermione thought back to her dream last night, only remembering parts of it but she didn't need to dream it to remember it, it was with her if she was awake or asleep, the burning pain in her chest reminded saw to that.

_"Each time you see me – even for a second you will relive this moment. What's to happen is you will feel pain, pain which is worse than you are feeling now and being the kind person I am, I will give you a scar to remember me, not that you need it though. The scar will burn your flesh each time it is touched, no one will want you and no one will care for you."_

His words were unforgettable and she remembered them as though they were a potions text. They were always with her, never willing to go away. It was like he had managed to carve them into her brain, but how could she forget them? They were true.

A tap at her window alerted her to the fact that she had been standing in the same place for quite some time and she was shook out of her flashbacks when the tapping sound continued. A quick Alohomora, aimed at the window and the bird flew into her room, dropped the letter off and flew out without as much as a squawk.

Before opening the letter she decided to get dressed, attempting to delay the inevitable. After even more time had passed – her hair wouldn't co-operate with her – she grudgingly made her way over to her desk where the letter lay.

The calligraphy on the envelope of the letter made her skin crawl; it was Malfoy's. It pained her to say that she knew it well from the countless letters that were sent to her over the summer.

There was one thing that he had failed to mention after he left her in the forest, and it was that even his essence would set off the spell, the one that kept the pain raging. Of course, the letters he sent contained part of his 'essence'. The only time she relieved what happened in the forest fully was when he was near her; it had only happen a few times before but every time it had happened the shear intensity of the pain had brought her to her knees. Luckily no-one else was around but she knew that he would not be so kind next time. Next time he would stay and watch her suffer.

A stray though entered her brain, what would happen if Malfoy acted – dare she say it – altruistic? Hermione laughed aloud at the thought of Malfoy being unselfish and giving, the thought was enough to distract her from opening the letter a few minutes while she imagined him giving flowers to women and stroking a puppy then scratching it behind the ear.

A gnawing feeling in her stomach drew her attention back to reality. She had delayed opening the letter long enough. With trembling hands she broke the seal and watched, dispassionately as the wax seal fell to the floor. The letter dropped onto the table top and as she picked it up she felt the familiar ache of her scar.

_Dearest Hermione,_

_It has come to my attention that you are currently the only seventh year to be at Hogwarts over the Christmas break, what a shame. _

Hermione scoffed when she read this, wincing when the action pulled at her scar.

_I have decided that an unexpected visit is in order, just to make sure that __everything_ _is in working order._

And by that she knew he meant the curse.

_As a School Governor I have to make sure that I the welfare of the students and it faculty is on top form and that no adjustments to the school are in order. I will arrive tomorrow morning and I expect for you to wait where we meet last time, I am sure you remember. If not I suggest you ghost your hand over a certain line, you know the one I mean._

_Until tomorrow,_

_Lucius Malfoy, School Governor._

The letter fluttered to the floor as she wiped her hands on her trousers, she felt dirty. All correspondence with him – always unwelcomed – made her feel dirty. Suddenly the room felt small and she walked over to her window, opening it fully with a flick of her wrist and she let the cool air dance over her face.

"'You know the one I mean'," she mimicked.

* * *

**Dumbledore's Office.**

"Severus stop," he said this to the man who was currently wearing a whole the carpet by pacing the entire length of the room. Severus was muttering to himself about doddering old fools as Albus thought it would be funny to trip him while he was walking up the stairs.

"What Albus," he snarled, "if you hadn't noticed I am busy!"

"With your pacing, yes I can see that. But back to the matter at hand I think."

"Yes Headmaster," he sighed, taking a seat in the chair next to him. After a few moment had past Severus put his head in his hands, the permanent scowl taking its residency upon his face again.

Albus looked at him, a frown upon his face. There was something else going on with Severus he thought, and it wasn't due to the fact that he had woken him up to ask him what colour socks he should wear toady. He made a mental note to talk to Severus – by himself – later as they had to solve the problem of the scream. He turned to face Minerva; wanting to know her opinion on the blackout and the scream as he had already had Severus' opinion.

"Minerva."

"Yes Albus?"

"What's your take on all of this?" Minerva glanced at Severus. Normally Albus asked Severus everything and it had always been a sore point for her; she was the older and wiser one and yet he went to Severus first for everything. Albus only seemed to ask her if Severus didn't know the answers he sought. Yes, she knew that Severus was a spy, but it didn't hurt for him to include her once in a while.

"Like I said before Albus, I don't know. But, Severus could be right. I mean the Weasley twins did - if you remember – pull this type of stunt a while ago," she admitted.

"Severus?" he asked, only the slightest hint of tentativeness betraying his worry for the spy who lived.

"I stand by what I said before Albus," he said. Not bothering to look up from where he sat his head still in his hands.

"Very well then, I shall see you both at lunch then."

They left Albus to ponder what was wrong with his spy.

* * *

**Malfoy Manor **

Lucius Malfoy sat in the chair behind his desk, his fingers steepled together as he looked into the crackling fire.

"Just you wait Mudblood, just you wait."

* * *

***Insert Evil Panto Music (Jazz Style)***

**Ohhhhh and don't forget the scary laugh.**


	3. The Letters

**Just a quick note before we start off, I want to thank everybody for their reviews, they are what keep me writing, I especially want to thank MidnightSun.x who gave me one of the best reviews for my stories that I have ever read :D **

**Okay, some of you might have read my other stories and are questioning why I haven't updated them, well I think that I might try concentrating on one or two for a while, but I have**_**not**_**abandoned them.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**

**The Great Hall – Lunch Time**

She was alone for the Holidays, what a depressing thought, although truthfully she had been alone ever since the final battle. Harry and Ron had decided to go off with their respected half's after the battle and the after parties, Harry with Luna and Ron with Lavender and she was left alone. They didn't even see each other much anymore or write, apart from the one letter she had gotten from Ron this morning.

_Granger,_

_Don't contact us anymore, all of your letters have been burnt and anything that you have given us has been burnt also, we gave you fame and friendship during school, it's time to grow up and get your head out of the books. Don't attempt to contact us again or try and see us as precautions have been taken. They are not pleasant._

_Ron Wealsey, Ginny Weasley_

Harry hadn't signed it, but she didn't expect him to, he was never one to write out confrontations as he preferred face to face meetings where you could fight the other person. But as she thought about it, perhaps Harry had no idea about the letter, he had only written to her a few days ago asking how she was and how Hogwarts was fairing after the war. So perhaps there was light at the end of the tunnel.

As there weren't many people staying over Christmas break, there was only one table for all houses and teachers, and the only place left was by Snape. She squeezed in next to him and he shot her a reproachful glare.

"Good afternoon Professor," she said while trying to reach the pepper.

"Is it Miss Granger? I find that waking up at ungodly hours, then getting woken up again when a practical joke is played, sums up a perfectly shitty morning in my books." He snarled.

"A practical joke Sir?" She questioned, ignoring his rant about being woken up.

"Good god girl, didn't you hear it?" He asked while looking at her as if she had grown another head.

"Hear what Sir?"

He looked about ready to rip her head off for asking such an idiotic question when Dumbledore intervened.

"Someone set off a Weasley prank this morning, one of their screamers I think." He mumbled while picking stray bits of food out of his beard.

"A screamer, Sir?"

"Really Miss Granger, you're supposed to be the brightest witch of you age yet you can't figure what a screamer is?"

Ignoring what Severus had said, Dumbledore answered her question.

"A screamer Hermione, is I believe one of their new creations, it basically says what it does, scream," at this Severus snorted and mumbled something surprisingly similar to 'know-it-all my arse' but they both ignored him and Dumbledore continued to talk, "I must say it is quite a convenient way of waking everybody," at this he looked at Severus, "up. Any new inventions that they create I am notified of, wouldn't want any trouble makers in the school now, would we?" He said looking at Hermione, his eyes twinkling full of mirth.

A new Weasley product, that was news to her, like Dumbledore she got the same product listing but he probably had a few products missing from his. A listing of the Weasley product list and their uses were sent to every first year when they came, disguised as The Daily Prophet, and if they did invent a new one everyone was notified by mail, made to look like junk mail or a letter from home.

She was brought out of her musings when she felt someone nudge her arm, she looked at who it was, ready to shout at them when she came face to face with Snape.

"Miss Granger, the salt?"

"Sir?" She questioned, not quite sure why he was staring at her like that.

"The salt Miss Granger, I have been asking you for the past five minutes if you could be so kind to pass the salt."

"Of course, yes Sir."

And that ended that conversation, she thought back to what Dumbledore had said, A Screamer, she decided to write to them later, asking about any new products that they had invented.

She started to think about the letter she had received this morning, the one from Lucius, but she knew it wasn't a good idea to try and analyse it further when she was surrounded by a table full of teachers as none of them had gone home for the holidays, and focused back on the conversation that was taking place, she missed the concerned look that a certain Potions Professor gave her.

After lunch she decided to walk down to the lake, she found herself going down there more and more, it felt so peaceful and for some strange reason, her scar didn't hurt as much. She sat down on a dry piece of grass and started to hum a melody and as she turned towards the lake and started to sing, she missed the pair of eyes that were watched her from afar.

**Who's gonna pick you up?  
Who's gonna bend your rules?  
Who's gonna be your prop?  
Who's gonna play your fool?**

**Nobody know just how it feels today  
Nobody sees how our hearts break**

**Who's gonna watch your back?  
Who's gonna reel you in?  
Who'll make surprise attacks?  
Who's gonna be there at the end?**

**Nobody knows just how it feels today  
Nobody sees how our hearts break**

**Who's gonna bring you round?  
Who's gonna let you sleep?  
Who's gonna break frown?  
Who's gonna fall down at your feet?**

**Nobody knows......**

She stood slowly stretching out like a cat, and winced when her scar protested. A black Vulture flew down beside her, and she felt the pain again, it was Lucius bird, this morning the note had come by a different owl, but then again Lucius was always unpredictable.

_My dearest Hermione,_

_Are you surprised that you are receiving another letter from me? Well you shouldn't be my dear as this might become a regular thing. It is a pity that I couldn't send Hades this morning, but I had company and he is too recognisable. _

_What I also should mention, thought I don't know why I am being so kind, is that this Hades is an extensions of me, and if I deem it so, I can cause you pain through him. Which I will, be sure of that._

_At this moment I suspect that you can feel a tingling in that scar of yours, well let me tell you that the tingling will only get worse, and will not stop until I see you tomorrow, and I will see you tomorrow, failure to meet me will resolve in daily letters with an assortment of curses woven into the parchment which you cannot shield yourself from, and to stop the curse you would have to read the whole letter, like you are doing now, and work out the counter curse by finding the riddle in the letter and working it out, I should also mention that this parchment will look blank to anyone other than myself and you._

_I bet that the tingling had increased by now, well as you are reading this letter a new curse that I have created is being cast upon you. I decided to test my threat out. I won't tell you it's name as it would be too obvious to what it does, but let me assure you that you won't be able to get rid of it, the caster is the only one who is able to stop it. But I will inform you of some of the difficulties that you will face, pain, pain, and more pain. Looking forward to it? I suggest that you retreat to your room as the show will start shortly._

_All the best,_

_Lucius._

She fled from her spot under the tree nearly knocking over Severus in her mad dash towards the castle, not that she noticed who it was, she was too preoccupied, she could feel the curse starting to work and she prayed and hoped for a few more minutes to give her the chance to get into her room.

* * *

**Meanwhile back at the lake**.

Severus was startled to see Miss Granger fly past him at speeds he didn't know she was capable of. He thought about following her, but dismissed the thought immediately as remembered the look in her eyes as she nearly knocked him over, it was pure desperation, not even a hint of recognition. He walked down to where she was sitting, glaring at Hades, he knew it was Lucius bird as he had seen it many times when he had been to the manor on 'business'.

He picked up the parchment that she had left, only to discover that it was blank, nothing on it. He had expected as much as Lucius was a very paranoid person.

"What are you doing to her Lucius?" He muttered looking out at the lake watching to Giant Squid attempt to catch a flying bird.

Hades squawked beside him, making the Potions Mater jump as he had forgotten that he was there.

"What?" He asked the bird then looked around to make sure no-one was around to see the dreaded Potions Mater talk to a bird.

The bird cocked his head to one side, a mannerism typical of Lucius.

He made the way back up to the castle cursing Lucius for surviving at the final battle.

* * *

**Hermione Granger's room.**

She knew that she couldn't scream, she wasn't even in her room yet. She was propped up against the wall outside of her room, getting her breath back which was becoming increasingly difficult as each second passed by, she gathered all of her strength and shouted the password at the portrait, ignoring the concerned look that it gave her and entered her room.

She crawled over to her bed and pulled herself up, she could hardly breathe the pain was so bad and all she wanted to do was to cast a silencing spell over her room, but she didn't know if she could, she had used all of her strength up making it into her room and concentrating on spell work didn't seem appealing at the moment in time.

"I will not scream." She muttered through clenched teeth before succumbing to the darkness.

* * *

***Insert Evil Panto Music (Boogie Style)***

**And don't forget the evil smirk.**

**I bet you all hate me now, but don't worry I'm not going to kill her; I hate reading about main character deaths, and character deaths in general.**

**Well you should know by now that reviews make me update faster, as proven by this chapter.**


	4. The Pink Elephant

**I'm just going to mention the fact that you might hate me at the end of the chapter. **

**No flames please!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.**

_**

* * *

Hermione Granger's Room.**_

She woke up to find Professor Snape looming above her, a gentle caring look in his eyes. This shocked her more than the fact that he was in her room caring for her.

"Don't try and talk, you screamed yourself horse." He said, trying and failing in his endeavour to get her to swallow a Pepper-up potion.

But she wasn't Hermione Granger for nothing.

"Sc...screamed mys...self hor...horse?" She asked, he gave her a disapproving scowl but soften it when she backed away from him.

"I heard you all the way from the Lake."

Tears started to cloud her vision, Lucius.

"But...but I was unconscious. I fainted for crying out loud!"

She couldn't believe it, she had been screaming in while she had been unconscious, she had never done that before, or at least she never knew of it as she had always put silencing spells on her room.

"Do you know why?"

"No." Her answer was short and blunt which signalled the end of the conversation for now, he knew that he could force the answers out of her, but he wasn't willing to at the moment.

He used this opportunity to give her the potion she had refused moments before.

"I don't need it," she said stubbornly.

"Your hands are still shaking," he pointed out while moving the phial up to her lips.

She took the potion without fuss after that because she knew that she needed it, if she were alone she would have done the same thing, followed up with a hot bath and then a good book.

She looked at the wall on the opposite side of the room. It was her bookcase which was filled with the books that she had collected over the years. Books always made things better, perhaps she could go and get one.

"Don't even think about it." He said with his back to her.

"About what?" She questioned.

"The books, don't even think about getting out of that bed."

She smiled as he walked over to her bookcase.

"Which one would you like?" He asked candidly, as if it were an everyday thing.

She stared at him in shock as he looked at her collection of books, Severus Snape, dreaded Potions Professor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was offering to get her a book and tending to her. She couldn't believe it, it was like a dream come true, actually it was one of her dreams come true, although he was in bed with her and neither of them had clothes on, so really it wasn't a dream come true.

"Which one would you like?" He reiterated.

"Best Loved Poems, please."

"Poems, I thought you always read school text books," he joked but immediately regretted it when he saw her face fall.

"It was a joke Hermione."

"Oh."

He handed her the book and really looked at her, she had lost weight, he observed, her hair seemed even more of a mess than usual and the robes that he had taken off her when her heart had stopped had almost fallen off her body without needing his help. He closed his eyes as he remembered the moment when he had thought that he had lost her.

_As he walked past the Great Hall he changed his mind about following Miss Granger and made his way up to where her portrait was. He gave the teachers password to the man standing beside the young cougar and walked in, his ears were immediately assaulted with the sound of screaming, and he quickly cast a silencing spell and warded the door against anyone entering, in fear of someone else seeing her like this. _

_He had the same feeling in his gut that you got when you knew that something very bad was going to happen, and he prayed that for once in his life his gut was wrong._

_He walked towards the sound of the screaming and found her lying sprawled on the bed a mixture of sweat and tears falling down her face. _

_His heart stopped._

_He couldn't move. _

_The woman he loved was in agony._

_She let out an earth shattering scream and her whole body went limp, he couldn't see her chest rising or falling. _

_He leapt into action, performing diagnostic spells and trying to revive her. His hand shook so much that he had to cast the spell twice. _

"Ennervate_" He yelled, a last ditch effort to save her, hoping that it would work. His emotions fuelling the spell._

_It did._

_He saw the rise and fall of her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. She would live, but only if he found out what was happening with Lucius, he was quite sure that what had just happened was defiantly connected with him, but he needed her to confirm his suspicions. _

_He sat beside her on the bed and watched her eyelids flutter open._

"Severus?" She called after getting no response from when she called him Professor or even when she called him Snape.

"Hm, sorry." He shook his head to try and get the image of her lifeless body from his mind, but to no avail, that was all he saw. He walked towards her bookcase, and to Hermione it looked like he was looking at her collection of books, but he was really trying to control the tears that were making their way down his face. "

Not again," he murmured too quiet for her to hear, "please not again."

His shoulders started to shake and he felt two arms wrap around his body, and knew them to be Hermione's.

"My heart stopped, didn't it?"

He turned around to look at her, not caring that the tear tracks were still evident on his face. She didn't seem surprised.

"How did you-"

She unbuttoned her shirt to show him the scar that ran all the way down her chest, standing out on her pale skin. She had a paler one from Dolohov's curse, but it wasn't as prominent as the one that Lucius had given her.

She had been debating for the past few minutes whether to tell him or not, but decided that if she didn't, she was going to die, not tomorrow, but soon. Lucius would tire of his toy, and when he did he would play with her then kill her. She saw him turn away from her when she called his name and his shoulders started to shake, the fearless Professor was crying!? Then it dawned on her, with all that she had been through; Dolohov's curse, the final battle, Malfoy and now, Lucius' letters, her heart had given out, stopped completely. It had scared him, she realised, her trip at death's door had scared him.

He lifted his hand towards her chest and trailed the scar made by Dolohov his hands ghosting over her skin, as he started to trace the one made by Malfoy when she pulled back flinching.

He pulled his hand towards his chest at her reaction, confused as to why she had let him touch the one but not the other.

"The faint, pale one is from Dolohov when Harry decided to run off 'The Department of Mysteries' to save Sirius. The other one is from...Lucius."

"I know."

"How do you know that," she asked, the shock registering on her face.

"Hades."

"Ah." She turned away from him and started to button up her top.

"And how do you know about Hades," she turned around giving him a pointed look then answered her own question.

"Death Eater meetings." He nodded in agreement glancing down at his forearm with utter loathing.

Silence filled the room, the pink elephant in the room wanted an answer, but to get that answer Severus was going to have to ask the one question he was dreading the most.

The possibilities ran through his head about why she had done it, perhaps she had only just realised that this was her greasy haired Potions Professor in her room, or that she was repulsed by him. He interrupted his own inner musings when the question left his lips without permission.

"Hermione, why did you flinch away?"

* * *

***Insert Evil Panto Music (For you MidnightSun.x Punk Rock Style)***

**And not forgetting the evil smirk.**

**That's actually not bad for me, my first cliffy of the story, normally every chapter ends on one in my other stories.  
**

**I'm sorry it's such a small chapter but it felt right to stop it there.**

**Reviews encourage me to write more!!**


	5. Hidden Truths

**Okay, new chapter. I am really sorry that I didn't get it up sooner, but my painkillers decided not to work and I was in agony, I had the rough version of the chapter, but I hadn't gone through it enough for it to be ready to be posted.**

**Hope you like it.**

**Declaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.**

**There are also some serious themes in this chapter that might disturb some people, you have been warned.**

**Everything in **_**italic**_** is flashback, unless it is a spell.

* * *

**

She turned to face him and he saw the emotions playing out on her face.

"Lucius has a certain amount of...power over me."

He could see her hesitancy to tell him and he wondered about what else she wasn't telling him.

"How much '_power_'?" He asked, expecting her to tell him but surprised when she turned away again,

She turned around so she didn't have to look at him, or more specifically, his eyes. She tuned to face the window and saw that Hades was still sitting where she had left him and scowled.

"Hermione?"

She still didn't answer. 'How much power did Lucius have over her?' She didn't even know the answer herself, so how was she going to answer Severus?

She knew that he could cause her pain if his magical signature was near to her, but she didn't know about anything else, and that was what scared her; he had an unknown amount of power over her.

"I don't know?" She answered meekly.

He turned around at her and looked at her as if she were mad. He stalked up to her and roared;

"That is a question, not an answer!"

She broke down sobbing on the floor, it was too much for her in one day, her venture to deaths door, Severus shouting at her, and not forgetting the letters that she had received this morning.

He regretted shouting at her as soon as he saw her on the floor sobbing her heart out, but he wasn't angry at her. No, it was Lucius that his anger was directed at and she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Had he been alone, he would have taken his anger out on inanimate objects, but he wasn't.

"Hermione," he stared at her, not knowing what to do. He didn't comfort crying students; he was the one that normally made them cry.

She looked up at him, the hurt plain to see in her eyes and the tears falling freely down her face.

"I'm sorry, but you have to understand that certain things in my past make me the way I am, make me react as I do."

This time it was he who walked to the window.

"The spell that Lucius used isn't an old one, in fact it has been around for centuries, how he got hold of it I do not know, but it should have never come into his hands."

His knuckles went white as he gripped the ledge of the window pane, as he was determined not to take his anger out on her again.

"But you do know, you're leaving something out aren't you?"

He turned around to face her; what looked to be amusement passed fleetingly over his face, but it could have been anger, she wasn't sure, and she sure as hell wasn't going to ask him.

"Always the perceptive one, weren't you?"

She looked down to try and hide the blush that was rapidly spreading over her face.

"Yes. I am leaving something out and yes I do know."

She looked up at him expectantly, she clearly wanted answers, but was he willing to give them to her?

"I can't tell you," and seeing the look on her face he added "yet."

She thought about it for a moment then answered.

"Okay."

An awkward silence descended upon them, neither of them knowing what to say.

"So, I will leave you to...get better." He finished, mentally sneering at himself for his choice of words, she wasn't going to get better until the curse was lifted.

"Okay, so see you later?" She looked up at him hopefully.

"Okay."

With that he walked out the room, leaving Hermione to wonder what he was hiding. She smirked to herself; she had managed to avoid his question.

* * *

**Down in the dungeons.**

She had avoided his question. Yes she had given an answer, but it wasn't the one he wanted. No-one did that, apart from Albus. He had half-a mind to back up there and demand answered, but his memories of her lying on the bed, dead to the world were still fresh and he was not willing to see her again until after he had drunk himself into a coma.

Another reason that he didn't want to go demanding answers was that it had also brought up memories that he would have rather forgotten. Memories he thought that he had buried a long long time ago.

He walked over to his cupboard and grabbed a bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey and settled down in front of the fire, watching the flames dance around each other. His all too fresh memories resurfaced taunting him into drinking the whole bottle in one go. His eyes were heavy and he slipped into the black abyss that they called sleep, but his was riddled with nightmares of past hurts and betrayals.

"_Mum?" _

_Severus wasn't stupid, he knew that something was wrong, his mother never used to flinch when his father was around._

"_Yes dear?" She was busy covering up a black eye which she had gotten only a few hours ago._

"_What's the matter?"_

_She looked down at her only child and wished she could tell him the truth, she really did, but it wasn't fair to burden a twelve year old child with the knowledge of her troubles._

"_Nothing dear, just walked into a door."_

_He looked at his mum as he always did when she told him lies, oh he knew that they were lies alright, he had figured that out a year ago when the allusion of his happy family was shattered, he walked in on his father hitting his mother repeatedly in the stomach._

"_Sure mum."_

_He walked out the door and went into the family library; they had a huge collection of books from all around the world, some were even in foreign languages. He pulled a book out at random and began to read about the 'Wonderful World of Trolls'._

_He had just seen his mum crawl to her room after his father had walked past her._

_He looked up to his father, the question clear in his eyes._

"_She deserved it boy," and with the he walked off.

* * *

_

**Hermione Granger's room.**

The floor was going to be ruined by her pacing, but she didn't care, Lucius was coming tomorrow and she had to go and see him, she didn't want to but he had to take the curse off her before it got bad again, oh she knew that it would Lucius never did thing once, and he also had to have the satisfaction of seeing what his curse was doing to her. Which he would have tomorrow, and that scared her more than anything, being at Lucius mercy, and the fact that he did not have any.

She knew that the curse was still active, even after Severus had revived her, because she could feel the throbbing in her chest, it was getting worse and she debated whether to silence the room so no-one could hear her screaming or to jump off the Astronomy tower and end all the madness.

The second option was drastic, but she had been contemplating it for a while now, she didn't know if she would ever be free from Lucius. Even if someone found out and tried to help her, the spell that he cast over her could only be removed by him (she had already tried a verity of spell to try and remove it) and she didn't think that Lucius would be kind enough to remove it.

Who would want her after the curse anyway? She was damaged goods, two scars crisscrossing across her chest, dozens of self-inflicted ones, and not forgetting the invisible one across her heart. She removed the glamour that she normally wore and looked down at her arms, she was disgusting.

She had made up her mind and went looking for the endless sleep that she craved.

* * *

**Severus's Chambers.**

"_Mum, what are you doing on the roof?"_

_He was no fool, he knew what his mother was doing, but he didn't want it to be true._

"_I'm sorry dear. I love you." The tears were streaming down her face as she stepped towards the ledge. _

_That was the last time he ever saw her._

He awoke completely sober; he hadn't had that particular dream in so long as he had spent years trying to suppress it and he thought that he had succeeded, but this had proven him wrong.

His gut churned uncomfortably.

He had to find Hermione.

* * *

**Astronomy Tower**

She reached the Astronomy tower out of breath from running up the staircases. She unlocked the door with a simple _Alohomora, _but didn't think it strange for it to open to such a simple spell, as she only had one thought on her mind.

She walked out to the ledge and sat down, it was such a peaceful night, so much so that it seemed a shame to spoil it, but she had to do this, she hadn't the will to live anymore.

"I deserve this." She whispered and started to climb up onto the ledge when a voice from behind stopped her.

Thankfully he had reached the Astronomy tower before her, all teachers had access to the tower via a statue on the second floor in case of emergencies, it wasn't an everyday occurrence, students up in the Astronomy Tower when they shouldn't have been, but they did get the odd alarm going off when a teacher had forgotten to ward the door, or if the student was a certain Weasley.

He had used a simple locating charm to find out where she was heading, de-warded the door and waited in one of the many shadows. He was glad that his gut had been right this time.

It didn't take long for her to appear, using a simple spell to gain entry and make her way to the edge and look down; she looked at peace with herself, like she knew that it was the right thing to do.

"I deserve this." She muttered and started to climb up the ledge when he voiced his thoughts.

"No, you don't."

She didn't say anything, but stopped what she was doing.

"How did you know where I would be?"

He walked out of the shadow that he was hiding in.

"Because my mother did the same thing."

* * *

***Insert Panto Evil Music (For you MidnightSun.x. Rap style)***

**Another chapter done,**

**Somehow this chapter doesn't feel...right, please tell me what you think or whether I should go back and re-edit?**


	6. Memories

**I know that it wasn't that long ago that I posted a new chapter but the plot bunnies demanded that I write this chapter so I gave in.  
**

**Some of you are going to hate me. Don't kill me!**

**Everything in _Italic_ if flashback.  
**

**Declaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**

**Astronomy Tower, continued.  
**

"Do you mean that she succeeded?"

She was half on, half of the ledge, he inched forward but he was still too far away to grab her if she decided to jump.

"As I said before, always the astute one."

She was still not facing him.

"Please, come down from there?" His voiced wavered at the end, he had never talked a student down off the Astronomy tower before.

He moved forward so he was a few feet from her.

"I can't."

She climbed onto the ledge.

"Why,"

She was mere millimetres away from his grasp.

She turned around to face him. And inched backwards out of his grasp.

"Because I have nothing left to live for anymore."

And with that, she fell.

* * *

**Malfoy Manor.**

"Draco, could you come I here for a moment please."

He had been going towards the family Library when his father had called him.

"Yes father?"

He walked into the room. Lucius Malfoy was sitting at his desk, his hands clasped in front of him, his blond hair draped over his shoulder and his cane leaning across the desk. He motioned for his son to have a seat, it was going to be a long conversation then.

"What do you know about the Mudblood Granger?"

He moved further into the room and sat in the chair opposite his father.

"The Mudblood Granger?"

"Yes, the Mudblood Granger."

Draco looked at his father strangely, his father had never asked about her before, so why was he asking now.

What his father didn't know was that he didn't want to join the Death Eaters, he had gone to Albus Dumbledore sometime during his sixth year after his father had taken him to a death eater induction and told the old Headmaster everything. He was now a spy for the light, a spy who couldn't understand his father's sudden obsession with Granger. Sure he went on about how he should have been cleverer than her and how he should be top of the class, but he had never seen his father look the way he looked now when talking about her.

"Well, she always has her nose buried in a book and her lapdogs Potter and Weasly follow her everywhere, one might think she was fucking both of them."

To his father and anyone else who walked in, the look on his face would tell them what he actually thought of Potter and Weasly, disgust and hatred, but on the inside he was itching to go to Dumbledore with this latest information, and disgusted that he had to talk about Hermione like she were below him.

They had become good friends, as he had spent the summer holidays at Hogwarts, he had found out that she was staying there on the first say of the holidays and over the weeks they had gradually become friends.

"What else?"

"Nothing much father, I suppose that without them she would be a loner."

Lucius looked contemplative for a moment before asking.

"And what about the Mudblood's parents?"

He started to panic, during the holidays they didn't talk about her, she had remained resolute in her decision to keep silent on her own life, not for the lack of trying on his part. Every question was met with another and any observation shrugged off. They only talked about books and his life, but he could remember her saying briefly that her parents were dentists.

"Her parent's, father?"

"Do you have to repeat everything I say?"

He had been told from a young age not to bow his head to no-one, not even his own father as it was a seen as a sign of disrespect. He had to fight the urge to do so now.

"No, sorry father. I think I heard the Mudblood mention that her parents were dentists."

"Very good. That will be all."

Lucius turned his back to his son, his hands steepled together and a smirk on his face, this was going to be fun he thought and got to business.

Draco knew that he was dismissed when his father turned his back on him. As he walked out of the room he reflected on all the times that he had spent with Hermione during the summer holidays. And smiled as he remembered their first encounter.

* * *

"_Watch it Mudblood." He sneered, he had just received a letter from his father detailing what he was supposed to do while at Hogwarts over the summer and he was not in the mood to deal with her. _

_He was supposed to spy on Dumbledore and give his father weekly reports and had just come back from a meeting with the headmaster, discussing what information he could report back to his father._

"_Watch it yourself ferret face, or you will find that your wand will have a new home, care to guess where that is?"_

_He was shocked the Mudblood had a mouth, and a dirty mouth at that._

"_You mouth Granger?"_

_He literally didn't see it coming and the next thing he felt was his wand up where it shouldn't have been._

"_What's the matter Malfoy? Need to go see Madame Pomfrey for a constipation potion?"_

_She asked sweetly._

"_You...you!"_

"_Yes me, I made good on my threat Malfoy, remember that the next time you decide to insult me."_

_He walked as fast as he could to his dorms, although his wand made it impossible for him to do so without looking a fool._

_

* * *

_

_He found her sitting under the tree the day after the wand incident._

"_What do you want Malfoy?"_

_She hadn't even turned around; her head was buried in a book._

"_Nothing Granger."_

_He decided not to anger her today as it had taken him awhile to remove his wand from where she had stuck it. He was only thankful that she had decided not to use a charm to make it stay there permanently, or he would have had to make a visit to Madame Pomfery._

"_What's the matter Malfoy, nothing to say today?"_

_He looked at her, really looked at her and in her own way she was pretty, not his type, but pretty nonetheless._

"_Not today Granger."_

"_Wow, a Malfoy without a scathing remark, has the world ended?" She put her hand over her heart, mocking him with a fake scowl._

"_Ha ha Granger, you know you could be a stand up comedian?"_

"_Yes, I have been told that." She turned back to her book and he found that he didn't want to conversation to end. He looked down at the book in her hands._

"'_Psychology for Dummies?'"_

"_It's to do with the mind and our perception on things."_

"_Oh, can I have a look."_

_She gave him a disbelieving look but passed him the book and to her surprise, he started to read it. She pulled another book out of her bag and began to read that one._

_They sat in silence for a few hours, each of them reading in silence. When he had finished reading her book they started to talk about whether using Muggle methods would help wizards which soon turned into a debate whether witches were better than wizards._

_Before they knew it, night had set in and they both parted ways._

_

* * *

_

_It had been three weeks since the wand incident and they had settled into a routine of sitting by the same tree, reading a book, the debating whether the author was sane or not._

"_You know Malfoy, for someone who is the prince of Slytherin, I would have thought that your secret would have gotten out by now."_

_At his confused look she continues._

"_The fact that you are gay?"_

_She stated it as if it were common knowledge and he didn't answer straight away he was too shocked. It took him a moment to comprehend what she had said and he did realise what she had said, he turned crimson._

"_Excuse me?!" _

"_How dumb do you thing I am Malfoy, it wasn't that obvious, but the late nights with Blaise Zabini gave you away."_

_His blush darkened. _

"_How did you know that?"_

_It was her turn to blush, she looked towards the lake and muttered;_

"_I don't have any friends, but I consider you to be one. I wanted to make sure you were okay, that you weren't hurt so I might have placed an undetectable tracking charm on you."_

_He was speechless for once in his life, Hermione Granger was looking out for him._

"_Thank you Hermione."_

_It was the first time he had used her name, and it sounded nice. He was determined to use it more in future, after all they were friends.

* * *

_

He was brought back in to reality by the sound of breaking glass.

His father was angry again.

* * *

***Ducks behind screen to avoid curses thrown***

***Evil panto music (MidnightSun.x Really Evil style*) **

**I really had planned something else for this chapter, but my plot bunnies wouldn't let me!**

**But if you want to find out what happens, you know what to do!**


	7. Consequences

**A/N: Okay I did have a rough guide to this chapter but as I kept going over it as it needed polishing, before anyone writes a review saying that I need a beta this is fiction, it's not perfect and it will probably never will be.**

**Huge thanks to cherryblossom222 for the Latin translation, I will be using it in the next chapter, I did try and put it in this one as I asked for it but it didn't fit where I wanted it to. And the chapter was getting pretty long without the in depth explanation that I wanted to do.  
**

**Everything in **_**Italic**_** if flashback.**

**Declaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.**

**The poem is mine, but before anyone says anything, I know that it isn't any good! It was written in 5 minutes.**_**

* * *

**_

**Astronomy Tower **

"Hermione!"

He raced towards the edge and saw her falling towards the ground.

She was completely silent.

His brain decided to kick in and he realised that no student could jump off the Astronomy tower without making a visit to his office. Albus, for some completely insane reason had decided that they would react better to the Slytherin head of house aka. Bat of The Dungeons, instead of their own, or even Albus with his blasted Lemmon Drops and twinkling eyes.

With that in mind he made his way out of the Astronomy Tower and down to his office to meet the Gryffindor. Once a student was in his office, they couldn't get out, he and Albus had warded the room against entry and exit by the student. There was also a cushioning charm that made everything in the room harmless, and a sticking charm that ensured that nothing would be damaged.

He entered his office to find Hermione Granger sleeping peacefully on the couch. She barely moved except for the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest.

He could see that her robe was nearly choking her and walked over to remove it, a piece of scrunched up parchment fell to the floor. He picked it up, unfolded it and began to read the messy scrawl that belonged to Hermione Granger.

* * *

_If I died today would anyone care?_

_Would they stress out and pull their hair?_

_Would they come to my funeral and shed a tear?_

_Would they remember my name in over a year?_

_If I died today would anyone care?_

_Would they know about the scars I bear?_

_Would they pity me and call out my name?_

_Would they yell at me and call me vain?_

_If I died today would anyone care?_

_Would they thank God and say a prayer?_

_Would they hate my existence so much that_

_They would wish for me to die in combat._

_If I died today would anyone care?

* * *

_

He carefully folded the parchment in half and put it on the table in front of him. He smiled tenderly down at the girl- no, woman in front of him. She had been through so much for someone so young.

She was safe...for now, and to him that was all that mattered.

He walked over to his desk and sat behind it, putting his head in his hands. Lucius Malfoy was going to pay dearly for what he had done to her.

* * *

**Location Unknown.**

"How many Sir?" Said an old man who leaned heavily on a walking stick and reeked of urine.

"Ten, and make sure that they are all of the finest quality, I don't want to see any of them damaged or broken."

The man had an air of arrogance surrounding him, one that could quickly turn to darkness if provoked.

"Yes Sir, right away Sir."

The old man scurried off as fast as his cane would allow to gather the ingredients, while the other man roamed the store for objects that could become useful to him in the future.

The sound of the old man's cane on the old floorboards alerted the man that the dealer was back.

"Ten of the finest quality Sir."

Then man peered into the bag to check the merchandise.

"Very good."

With a quick flick of his wrist, a green light filled the air. The man turned his back on the lone figure that lay on the floor and walked into the rain.

* * *

**Hogwarts – Headmasters office.**

"My dear Fawkes, it seems that trouble may be brewing once again."

Albus Dumbledore signed his name on the parchment and leant back in his chair. Something was happening, something that he didn't know about. And he didn't like it; a headmaster who didn't know what was going on in his school was hardly a headmaster at all. First the screamer and now the wards to the Astronomy tower were going off.

The first set of wards going off was a regular occurrence, but the second set was a rare one, one that was not likely to happen at Hogwarts. The second set of wards only went off if a student jumped off the tower, yes they were then taken to Severus but it was still a worrying thought as to why the student was jumping.

The floo roared to life and a man in black billowing robes stepped through.

"Ah Severus, I was just about to come and check-"

"Hermione Granger."

His face was solemn as he regarded at the ageing headmaster.

"Hermione Granger? Are you sure Severus?"

"I was there Albus, goddamn it I was there."

The headmaster's eyes were devoid of any twinkle as he peered at his potions master.

"Is she okay?"

"Yes, the spell you placed on the school all those years ago still holds, though why they students end up in my quarters baffles me."

"You know what they go through Severus, I remember talking you down from that tower not so long ago."

"Don't remind me Albus."

He made his way wearily over to the chair and unceremoniously flopped into it.

"What happens if she wakes up?"

"I have placed a spell on her to tell me when she does."

They both sat in silence and reflected on past events. A soft melody rang through the air and they both felt a sense of calm wash over them. The darn bird always knew when his talents were needed he thought, but that didn't mean that he wasn't grateful for then.

"Severus she needs help."

"I know Albus, believe me I know."

* * *

**Severus's chambers.**

Hermione awoke to find herself on a lumpy couch with a sore neck and an aching scar, but jumping off the Astronomy tower would do that to you she mused. She managed to get herself into a sitting position, and looked the room that she was in.

The parts of the wall that weren't lined with books were dark blue. The room appeared smaller than it actually was due to the amount of clutter on the floor; the warm glow that filled the room was from a fireplace that was big enough for someone to travel through. An old oak desk with intricate carvings stood on four battered legs at the back of the room, its draws filled to the top with loose pieces of parchment, and books that were haphazardly spread across the top of the desk. A single quill lay onto of a potions text and she knew whose office this was.

She wasn't the brightest witch for nothing; she had taken precautions after Lucius had cursed her to make sure that no one else could place any type of spell or enchantment upon her or anything that affected her in any way. She knew that she couldn't stop the spell that Lucius had cast but she could prevent any more from being cast upon her. She found that the spell Lucius had cursed her with was not one that was found in any texts, even the ones in the restricted section. She had also discovered that none of spells in the restricted section lifted the curse that Lucius had cast.

She got up from the couch and started to make her way towards the door when a green glow from the fireplace filled the room.

"I think not Miss Granger."

Although he hated himself for it, he needed to become the teacher, not the worried man named Severus. Students reacted to the teacher better; they reacted to Severus with something akin to horror. He had had a gut feeling that she had awoken, and although his wards had not alerted him of the fact, he had to make sure, as his gut had been right the first time.

She turned round to look at him, defiance clearly written upon her face. So she wanted to fight then, so be it, he mused.

"Give me two good reasons why I can't leave this room."

He stared at her incredulously.

"Did the fall cause amnesia? Because I for one distinctly remember you stepping off the top of the Astronomy tower tonight? Or did I imagine that?"

"And I would have succeeded if not for your intervention!" She yelled.

"Intervention...you were going to die had I not saved you!"

He left out the part about the wards saving her, she need not know in case she decided to try again, she was more than capable of taking the wards down if she put her mind to it.

"That would have been preferable to living!"

She turned her back on him and made her way to the door and tried to turn the handle but it would not budge, she missed the shocked look that fleetingly passed over his face.

"Unlock the door."

"No."

She went to reach for her wand before remembering that she had left it up in her room.

"Do you really think that I am going to try again now, with you watching me like a hawk?"

"Yes."

She ran a hand through her hair and eyed the pot of Floo powder dangerously; he stepped into her line of vision and stared at her coolly.

"Give me two good reasons as to why you think that." She said a hand perched on her hip.

"I just gave you one-"

"Not good enough."

Silence descended upon them and neither of them dared to break it, they were both thinking things through in their heads, he was thinking about all of the lovely things he could do to Lucius once he got hold of him and she was trying to come up with a different escape strategy.

"I don't see the reason for all of this. I am fine!" She exclaimed, her hands gesturing wildly in the air.

"_Fine_." He spat, "it may have escaped your notice but you need help, jumping off the Astronomy tower is not a normal thing to do if you are '_fine'_. So don't stand there and tell me that you are '_fine'_ when I know that you are nowhere near the mental state of being '_fine_."

She seemed unperturbed by his outburst, something which worried him greatly.

"That's one reason."

"You want the other reason; the other reason is that I can help."

She met his gaze and laughed,

"You can help, what makes you think that you can lift the curse? A kiss, one that will magically lift the curse like in the fairy tales I read when I was a child? Or perhaps a declaration of undying love? Which is it to be Severus?"

He prided himself on being detached and cold but she had hit a nerve, one that he was sure she was not aware of. His hand hovered over his wand, ready to stun her if she attempted to leave again.

She turned away from him and started to pace the room, he could see her mind trying to connect the dots.

"Before I...before I jumped, you said that your mother had the same spell placed upon her, was it ever reversed?"

He was glad that she seemed sidetracked for now, but knew that the night was still young and if he was correct there was still another major obstacle to go through before he talked some sense into her.

"Hermione, you need to understand that-"

"I'll take that as a no then."

She turned around to face him and gave him a small smile.

"Do you know what it's like?"

It took him a moment to realise that she was talking about the curse and he could see that she didn't really mean to say it; it was one of those things that you say without thinking. She was about to continue her rant about not being let out of the room when he answered her question.

"No. Tell me."

"I don't- excuse me?"

"Tell me what it's like."

She stared at him uncertainly, and nibbled nervously on her bottom lip.

"I...I can't."

"Why?"

Her silence told him everything. He started to move towards her and she backed herself into a corner.

"Hermione."

Her breath started to come in short gasps and he realised that they had met the other major obstacle; whether she would still be sane at the end of it was another story.

"Don't, you can't know, you just can't. Can't know. Not know, never."

He though back to his mother, and the first time he had found out about the curse.

******************

"_Mum?"_

_He and his father were sitting around the dinner table; his mother was pacing the length of the room._

"_Don't look at her boy, a terrible waste of space if you ask me."_

"_Don't, can't tell him, a boy, never mind. Shut up." His mother mumbled._

_His father sneered in his mother's direction but then proceeded to ignore her._

_*********************_

_He had heard his mothers cries and felt helpless, his father had locked him in his room and told him to be a 'good boy' and read the Dark Arts texts that he had gathered for him, while his father did god knows what to his mother. _

_The screams got louder and louder until they suddenly stopped._

_His father appeared in the doorway._

"_Get up." He said gruffly._

_Severus followed his father into his mothers room, he couldn't recall him ever seeing his mother sleep in the same room as his father._

_They both stood in the doorway and looked at the sight before them. His mother lay on the floor covered in her own vomit and blood. He was nearly sick at the sight but knew that any sign of weakness was punishable. _

"_This is what she deserved boy, remember that." He shoved a book into the shocked boy's hands._

"_Read it." He demanded and left._

_*********************_

Severus walked over to his book case and took out a slim volume, it was keyed so that no one could touch it other than himself, and he wasn't going to take any chances. Not after what his father did to his mother.

The book was a Dark Arts book, the same one that his father had given him all those years ago; there was only one surviving copy in the world as the rest had been destroyed. The only reason that he had this copy of the book was that he could not destroy it, nor could Dumbledore. The only person who could destroy the book was the person who was under the curse. A little known fact about the book was that it could only be read by the person under the curse and the person who cast the curse on the person who was under it.

He attempted to approach Hermione again and let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding when she didn't make any attempt to back away from him. This was when he could be Severus; the man who secretly loved the woman in front of him.

"Hermione?" He asked tentatively.

"Yes."

"Do you remember what just happened?"

The curse had driven his mother insane, and he was **not** about to let that happen to her.

"I...I was mumbling something...something about...not knowing." He could see the inner struggle going on inside her mind, and took pity on her.

"You were mumbling incoherently, and wouldn't let me approach you." He stated as clearly as possible in hopes of clearing the fogginess that surely plagued her mind.

He met her watery gazed and his heart clenched at the sight before him, she had wrapped her arms around her body and there were tear tracks making their way down her face.

"I remember."

He inched forward and took hold of her elbow, he could see that the adrenalin from her excursion off the top of the Astronomy tower had worn off and the shock was starting to set in.

"Hermione I think it would be best if we sat on the couch."

She let him lead her to the couch and he went to get a potion that would clear the rest of the fogginess from her mind, and also a wit sharpening potion.

They needed to talk.

* * *

***Evil panto music (MidnightSun.x In the style of Death Metal)***

**In the next chapter we will have; '_The Talk_'.**

**Wow, this is without a doubt the longest chapter for 'Hiding', mainly because I don't know when I will update again and because it has been a month since the last update.**

**Hope you enjoyed it! You should know what to do by now, if not there is a lovely button that says review, if you press it a thing comes up and type a few (nice) words in, hey presto, one very happy author!**


	8. Hurting Him

**Declaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it. **

**

* * *

**

**Hermione's POV**

I could feel the shock setting in but it was not the shock of nearly dying, no I still wanted that. It was the shock that I was dragging him into another potentially very dangerous situation. The couch dipped beside me and I turned to face him, I took in the sight of him, no-one would have guessed that he could posses so much compassion behind his stiff exterior, not even me, which is why I need to do what I don't want to do. I must hurt him, so much so that he cannot even stand to look at me nor be in the same room that I am in.

He is finally free of his Masters and I will not drag him into any situation where the possibility of him getting hurt is too great. I care too much for him to see him physically hurt again. I would put him in too much danger. He needs to be safe and I will make sure that that happens by any means necessary if it comes down to it.

**General POV**

She raised an arm to his face and traced some of the lines that were etched there, his eyes fluttered closed and a smile adorned her lips as he sighed.

"I cannot tell you."

That simple statement made his heart stop beating and his eyes nearly pop out of his skull.

"Why? I can help you, you know my mother had the same thing, please let me help you!"

Her heart was heavy, it would be so easy to allow him to help her and help to take the pain away but she knew, that in the long run, it would only make things worse. She would be dammed if she let him jeopardise his position in school or risk his life to help save her miserable life.

"No, I won't and you can't make me."

"But I can, I will if it comes down to it."

"No you can't, while I was on the run with the two boys I taught myself Occlumency, well the theory behind it. I trained my mind with the tools necessary for it and when I was taken to...Malfoy Manor I put everything I had into making the theoretical walls strong enough to withstand any attack on them. The Headmaster also helped, he was shocked at first then understood my need for privacy."

He was not a man who was shocked easily but this had shocked him, she knew Occlumency...What else did she know?

"And do you, do you know Legilimency?"

"The theory behind it, but I'm sure with a little practice that I could do it."

Everyone knew that she was the brightest witch of her age, hell, her generation but this; learning Occlumency and Legilimency was something else. It had taken him years to master just one of the crafts and she had learned both of them in less than a year. She truly was brilliant which was just one more reason that he lov- wanted to help her.

"And you would throw all of this away? This knowledge that could possible help someone in the future?"

When it all came down to it she that now was the time to get him to push her out of his rooms, she had to hurt him. Something that she loathed to do as he had told her of his past and he – to some extent – trusted her.

"Yes and you need to accept that, you say that you didn't help your mother but you did Severus, you did. You...you didn't stop her."

His faced which normally looked like crisp snow was now filled with the rage of ten lions.

"I. Didn't. Stop. Her?"

"Yes, that was how you helped her."

She saw it coming but it still hurt nonetheless. Her jaw started to ache from where he had hit her but she made no move to try and lessen the dull ache, after all, she had hurt him.

"Get. Out."

Before the last word had even left his lips she had leapt out of her seat and into the air, the door shut behind her and she didn't stop running until she reached her portrait. While she ran she knew he would have done a lot worse to her had he not given her a chance to escape and for that she was thankful.

Breathlessly she mumbled the password and collapsed on the floor once the portrait had swung shut.

The clock chimed the twelfth hour and she felt the days events catching up with her. Without moving from her spot on the floor she drifted once more into the land slumber, albeit restless slumber.

**Down in the Dungeons – 1 am. **

The tables were overturned and everything that was made of glass except the decanter and on tumble now looked like tiny diamonds. A man in the armchair snored softly with his head lolled over to the side, arm dangling limply by his side and his breath reeking of alcohol. That was how Draco Malfoy found his godfather.

Wordlessly he repaired all of the glass objects and righted his desk, and then went into his private lab to try and find a hangover potion. Thankfully he found one, it had a little dust on it but at the moment he didn't think that the potions master cared for the appearance of the bottle. Re-entering the rooms he found the man in the exact same position that he had left him in and made his way over to him. The room was a bit cold and before administering the potion he re-lit the fire that must have gone out a while ago, once the room was bathed in an orange glow woke the sleeping man.

"Draco?" He mumbled, looking disorientated.

"Drink."

Severus drank without complaint and that alone showed how bad he was. He waited a few minutes, making sure that the man's eyes became focused once more before sitting down on the the chair opposite him. He took notice of how his godfather was sitting, head bowed, arms crossed and frowned, not many things could drive him to the bottle with his past.

"Want to tell me what happened?"

"No." He looked miserable but he had no pity for him if he refused to tell him.

"All right then, do you want to know why I am here at 1am in the morning?"

That made him jerk, his face was priceless and had it not being for his gut telling him not to he would have made some remark. The man across from him sighed and ran a hand across his weary face.

"It's 1am?" Draco waited for that to set in before answering his questions, "only if the news if somewhat pleasant Draco."

"Then I must disappoint you Severus, and I would gladly not tell you because I know your...connection to her but something needs to be done right away."

That got his attention, there were very few females that he associated himself with and even fewer that he actually cared for.

"Who is it Draco, I have no patience tonight or could you not tell from the tumble beside me?"

"Hermione Granger Severus, both her and her parents are in trouble."

**Hermione Granger's rooms. **

Had she been awake she would have heard the tapping on the window, she would have seen the owl with a letter and had she read the letter she would have blamed herself.

But alas, she was not awake and she lay on the floor where she had crumbled just a few hours earlier, oblivious to the fact that she was now an orphan.

* * *

***Ducks behind the screen but reaches over to play the haunting beautiful piano music with a panto twist for MidnightSun.x* **

**I have decided to put any A/N's down here for now and see how it goes. So first things first, I must apologise for how long I left this story for and how fast chapter is moving. I want to get opinions, does anybody think that this story is moving too fast? I have been reading some really long 100 chapter fics at the moment and I am amazed at how well they are written and how the action/drama and everything else is.  
**

**New chapter will be up when I have finished telling myself off for leaving it here, believe me I really didn't want to but my brain doesn't want to co-operate with me. But I needed to get a chapter of this up and this has to be one of the longest A/N's I have done so I am stopping now,**

**Until next time, LooneyLovey **


End file.
